What do We Have to be Thankful For?

Among the beautiful messages in the 1937 film Captains Courageous is one relating to thankfulness. When spoiled rich kid Harvey says to Portuguese fisherman Manuel about Manuel's father, [H]e didn't do much for you; I mean, he didn't leave you anything," it evoked quite a reaction. Manuel passionately replied in his broken English:
"He leave me this hurdy-gurdy [a musical instrument] that his grandfather leave him. He teach me how to fish, how to sail a boat. He gave me arms and hands and feet, feeling good outside... and he teach me how to feel good inside. My father do all this; he have 17 other kids, beside. What else a father do, huh?
This dialogue presents two very different perspectives. One always wants more; the other knows we have already gotten more. And don't we see both -- perhaps one all too frequently -- represented in our modern society today?
One is apparent in the violent protests around the world, in which people cause mayhem because, by their lights, they haven't...(Read Full Post)